The First Few Weeks

What's Going On?

Over the past few weeks, I have thought about how best to share all the amazing things that are going on in Grasslands with all of you. At first, I thought a showcase website would be the best. You could all go to the website and see the things that your colleagues have done. However, because so many of the projects are on going, it will be a while before they are ready to be showcased. As a result, I thought it would be better to update you with a weekly blog. This way, I can let you all know about the things I am working on with teachers in the district and you can read about all the things going on. So, what follows is a description of some of the things I have had the good fortune of being involved with. If you would like more information about anything, please let me know! Rather than put this at the end of every piece, I will say it now: if you would like to work on any of these tasks in your classroom or your school, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Google Drive and Google Apps for Education

The most common task I am asked to help out with is setting up Google Drive with teachers and students. At the most basic level, Google Drive is a hard drive in the "cloud." It allows users to save any document they wish. You can create folders and store items just as you would in any hard drive. The advantage with Google Drive is that you and your students have access to all items on Google Drive on any device that has an Internet connection. The other advantage is you and your students have unlimited storage on Drive. 

That is the most basic level. But there is so much more that you can do with the tool. You have access to all of the Google Apps for education. This includes the capacity to create, edit, and share documents, spreadsheets, presentation, and websites. The opportunity for student collaboration and formative assessment are endless. For example, I worked with a group of teachers at BJHS who are going to use Google Drive and Google Docs to promote peer editing of written work. 

Google Sites

Effective communication is a key success factor for teachers. We need to effectively communicate with our students, their parents, and each other. One way to stay in touch with parents and keep them up to date is through a class web page. I have worked on setting up pages with teachers at Uplands School, Griffin Park School, and, in the near future, BCHS. Again, Google Apps for Education offers a straightforward tool to create these pages. 

Google Sites is a quick way to create professional web pages that can be shared with your parents and students. You can link them to folders in your drive to provide parents and students access to assigned tasks, daily lessons, or materials for extra practice. You can include external links to web pages you would like your students to use. Again, the options are broad. I like the fact that using Google Sites is very straightforward. Much of the construction is through drag and drop. There is no need to know code to create the page. 

Student Movie Making

Providing students with multiple means to represent their understanding of topics you cover in class is a core aspect of differentiation. Making short movies with them is an excellent way for students to demonstrate what they know. I was invited to Alcoma School to work with a group of Junior High Students and their teacher on making short films. We are using Google Drive as a method of collecting images and video clips. We are discussing ideas about how camera angles, lighting, and music can help create theme and tell a story. This is a multi-step project that engages the students in a very different way. However, they seem to be really enjoying the process. Once we have completed some movies, I will be sure to share them with everyone. 

Digital Art Portfolios

One of the advantages of using Google Drive and Google Apps for Education is the capacity and ease with which you can create digital portfolios with your students. There is a great deal of research to suggest that creating digital portfolios which incorporate student reflection and promote visible learning, are of great value to student academic performance. 

I am working with a teacher in Bassano to create digital portfolios in a high school art class. The first step in this project involved creating a folder for every student in the teacher's Google Drive, sharing the folders with the students, and having them upload digital copies of their work. The students were encouraged to take pictures of their work so they can be submitted to the drive. At this point, they are submitting everything.

The next step is to create blogs for all of the students so they can comment on their work and provide personal feedback about their art. This will be done in written format or in video format. The blogs will host pictures of the work and students will include their feedback. In addition, their classmates with offer some constructive feedback about the work that is created.

This project has huge potential for any class in any grade in any discipline across the division. Creating digital portfolios provides a visible artifact regarding growth over time. Students, parents, and teachers can all see how the student has grown in their learning journey. In addition, the portfolio can "travel" with the student from grade to grade. As well, many post-secondary schools ask to see portfolios of student work. There are many ways to utilize this tool within classrooms to promote improved student outcomes.

Google Classroom

A new tool within the Google Apps for Education suite is Google Classroom. This is Google's version of a Learning Management System. While it does not have the same functionality as other systems like Blackboard or D2L, it does provide teachers with a free tool with which they can create a course shell. I am working with teachers in Rolling Hills and at BJHS on using Google Classroom. Teachers can link Google Classroom to their Drive so that they can "handout," collect, and "hand back" assigned tasks digitally. Students do not need to print any of the materials off if they do not want to. There are a number of advantages to this. First, a student cannot say they lost a handout. It is always available to them on any device connected to the Internet through Google Classroom. Second, you can provide the student with feedback on their work and encourage resubmission if necessary. Again, all digitally through Google Drive. 

This is a very effective, straightforward tool you can use to help your students stay organized and up to date with what you are doing.